Seeing With My Ears
Several years ago, I was planning on running a photography workshop in the eastern Sierra, working with a small group of students to help them to "see" — to go deeper in taking a photograph than merely liking what they see. For me, photography is more than just a visual medium. Being in a grove of golden aspen in the fall, or in a slot canyon in the Utah canyon country, involves more than using one's eyes to "see" the image. It involves the other senses as well. Today, my wife and I were at North Lake Road, a dirt road that creeps along a steep hillside and then snakes along North Lake, occasionally disappearing into a tunnel of trees. As she ventured off to take photos of her own, I took my camera into a small grove of aspens and pines and just stood there, looking around, seeing if there was anything that visually inspired me. But as I stood there, something else occurred to me: seeing an image isn't just visual. It truly involves all your senses. You list...
